Entertainment

Trans Star Laverne Cox on Time Cover: 'This Is Way Bigger Than Me'

Not many people receive a birthday gift like Laverne Cox did on Thursday. Time magazine put the activist and Orange Is the New Black star on the cover of the June 9 issue beside these words: "The Transgender Tipping Point: America's next civil rights frontier."

"What a wonderful bday present!" Cox wrote on Facebook. "I realize this is way bigger than me and about a tipping point in our nation's history where it is no longer acceptable for trans lives to be stigmatized, ridiculed, criminalized and disregarded. This is for my trans siblings out there and for anyone who has ever been told that who you know yourself to be at your core is not legitimate. You are who you know yourselves to be."

Time's cover story, written by Katy Steinmetz, examines how a growing awareness of trans people is shaping the way we define gender. Cox has more to say about "taking people on their own terms" and letting go of preconceptions about trans people in the behind-the-scenes video below.

Time's story also explores the issues activists are fighting for and highlights other trans Americans such as an engineer at Google and "the first transgender homecoming queen in the nation" (below).

"As the trans movement has gained momentum, opponents have been drawn in to fight, many of them social conservatives who cut their teeth and fattened their mailing lists opposing same-sex marriage," Time's Steinmetz wrote in her cover story. "But perhaps the biggest obstacle is that trans people live in a world largely built on a fixed and binary definition of gender. In many places, they are unwelcome in the men's bathroom and the women's. The effect is a constant reminder that they don’t belong."

A Decade of Same-Sex Marriage

Massachusetts

Marcia Hams, center, and her partner Susan Shepherd, right, take an oath administered by City Clerk D. Margaret Drury, left, at Cambridge City Hall, in Massachusetts. They were the first couple to begin the marriage license application process in the state, minutes after midnight on May 17, 2004.

Image: Steven Senne/Associated Press

Massachusetts

Ten years after becoming one of the first same-sex couples married in Masachusetts, Peg Preble and Robyn Ochs smile and reflect in the backyard of their Boston home.

Image: Associated Press/Associated Press

Connecticut

Peg Oliveira, left, and her partner, Jennifer Vickery, hold hands as Judge Herbert Gruendel officiates their marriage in New Haven, Connecticut, on Nov. 12, 2008. They were among the first gay couples married in the state.

Image: Douglas Healey/Associated Press

Iowa

At the time of their marriage, they were the only couple to successfully wed in the state that day before Judge Robert Hanson, of the Polk County District Court, delayed the issuing of marriage licenses

They were the only same-sex couple to be legally married in Iowa one year earlier, because

Image: Kevin Sanders/Associated Press

Vermont

Bill Slimback, left, holds out his hand as partner Bob Sullivan, slides a wedding ring on his finger during their wedding ceremony in Waterbury, Vermont. Justice of the Peace Greg Trulson officiates the nuptials on Sept. 1, 2009.

Image: Andy Duback/Associated Press

New Hampshire

Olin Burkhart, center left, and Carl Burkhart, center right, kiss as a group of onlookers watches on. The pair wed on the steps of New Hampshire's state capitol on Jan. 1, 2010.

Image: Cheryl Senter/Associated Press

New Hampshire

Bill Gaudet, left, and Ramon Gaudet, right, wait to get legally married in front of New Hampshire's state capitol on New Year's Eve.

Image: Cheryl Senter/Associated Press

Washington, D.C.

Couple Cucu Vu, left, and Gwen Migita look gleeful on March 3, 2010, getting their marriage license on the first day possible for the District of Columbia.

Image: Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Washington, D.C.

Couple Rocky Galloway, left, and Reginald Stanley are pronounced "partners for life" by Rev. Sylvia E. Sumter during their marriage ceremony. It was the first day same-sex marriage became legal in D.C.

Image: Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

New York

Kitty Lambert, right, and her partner Cheryle Rudd opt for a wedding at Niagara Falls. The city's mayor, Paul Dyster, marries the couple on July 23, 2011. The 54- and 53-year-olds were among the first gay couples to marry in the state.

Image: David Duprey/Associated Press

New York

Michael Johnson, 55, left, and Michael Roberts, 81, of New York, warmly embrace after marrying at the City Clerk's office in New York on July 24, 2011.

Image: Craig Ruttle, Pool/Associated Press

New York

Patrick Plain, left, and Seong Man Hong, kiss on the steps of the City Clerk's office in New York. The couple married on July 24, 2011.

Image: Jason DeCrow/Associated Press

Washington

Retired U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Nancy Monahan, right, puckers up to partner Deb Needham at Seattle City Hall. They were among the first lesbian couples to legally wed in the state, on Dec. 9, 2012.

Image: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Washington

Dan Savage, left, and his husband Terry Miller stroll hand in hand down the steps of Seattle City Hall. The couple got married on the first day gay marriage was legal in the state.

Savage is a sex columnist and gay rights advocate. He and Miller started the It Gets Better project, which aims to prevent suicide among LGBT youth.

Image: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Maine

On Dec. 29, 2012, Steven Bridges, left, and Michael Snell become the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Maine. They grin for the cameras as Snell slides a wedding ring onto Bridges' finger.

Image: Robert F. Bukaty, File/Associated Press

Maryland

James Scales, left, embraces partner William Tasker during a marriage ceremony at City Hall in Baltimore, on Jan. 1, 2013. It was the first day gay couples could legally wed.

Maryland is the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to approve same-sex marriage.

Image: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Maryland

Darcia Anthony, left, and her partner, Danielle Williams, have a private moment before their wedding ceremony in Baltimore, on Jan. 1, 2013.

Image: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

California

Sandy Stier, left, and Kris Perry wave to onlookers moments after getting married. Their ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco was officiated by Calfornia Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Stier and Perry were the lead plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the same-sex marriage ban. They were married about an hour after a federal appeals court allowed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses.

Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

California

Diana Luiz, left, and Nicola Simmersbach, hold hands and take their marriage vows at the Sacramento County Recorder's office on June 28, 2013. They became the first same-sex couple to marry in the county after the ruling.

Image: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

Delaware

Delaware State Sen. Karen Peterson, left, and her spouse Vikki Bandy hold hands in Wilmington, Delaware., on July 1, 2013. They were the first couple to be legally wed under the state's new same-sex marriage law.

New Jersey

Beth Asaro, left, and Joanne Schailey, right, excitedly exchange vows while Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio officiates their marriage. They were the first lesbian couple married in the county on Oct. 21, 2013, and were also the first couple in the state to enter into civil union back in 2007.

Image: Rich Schultz/Associated Press

Minnesota

Al Giraud, left, and his partner Jeff Isaacson kiss at their wedding at Minneapolis City Hall on Aug. 1, 2013. The city's mayor, R.T. Rybak, officiates the wedding.

Giraud and Isaacson were the first gay couple to legally marry in the state.

Image: Stacy Bengs/Associated Press

Minnesota

Margaret Miles, right, and wife Cathy ten Broeke, cheer after becoming the first lesbian women to legally marry in the state. The pair's nuptials were held on Aug. 1, 2013 at Minneapolis City Hall.

Image: Stacy Bengs/Associated Press

Rhode Island

Zachary Marcus, left, and Gary McDowell kiss for the first time as a married couple after their ceremony at City Hall, in Providence, on Aug. 1, 2013. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, not shown, presides over the ceremony.

Image: Steven Senne/Associated Press

Hawaii

Ethan Wung, left, and Keola Akana wrap their arms around each other in Honolulu on Nov. 29, 2013. The pair was among the first same-sex Hawaiian couples to get married on Dec. 2.

Image: Jennifer Sinco Kelleher/Associated Press

New Mexico

Sarah Santos and Jamonica Hudgin hold up their marriage license at the Dona Ana County Clerk's Office in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Aug. 21, 2013.

Image: Juan Carlos Llorca/Associated Press

Illinois

Patricia Ewert, left, and Vernita Gray, right, kiss during their wedding in front of a crowd of photographers. It was the first legal same-sex marriage in the state, on Nov. 27, 2013.

Gray was terminally ill with cancer, so the couple was given an expedited marriage license before the state's new marriage law takes effect in June 2014. Gray died on March 18, 2014, at the age of 65.

Image: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Oregon

Julie Engbloom, left, and Laurie Brown, right, get married by Judge Beth A. Allen at the Melody Ballroom, Monday, May 19, 2014, in Portland, Oregon. Federal Judge Michael McShane released an opinion on Oregon's Marriage Equality lawsuit that grants gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry in Oregon.

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